CodeCov supply-chain compromise likened to SolarWinds attack

CodeCov, a company that creates software auditing tools for developers, was recently breached the company says it was breached on April 1, and reported it on the April 15. According to investigators, this incident, in turn, gave attackers access to an unknown number of CodeCov’s clients networks...

Mother charged with using deepfakes to shame daughter’s cheerleading rivals

A Pennsylvania woman reportedly sent doctored photos and videos of her daughters cheerleader rivals to their coaches, in an attempt to embarrass them and get them kicked off the team. Shes alleged to have used deepfake technology to create photo and video depictions of the girls naked, drinking,...

International Women’s Day: Women in tech name their heroes

Happy Monday! And if you haven’t yet checked the significance of this day—March 8—before grabbing coffee, today is International Women’s Day IWD. Since March 19, 1911, the year the very first IWD was observed in several European countries, millions of people have been calling for women to be give...

How NOT to fail at PDF redaction

The heated spat between Europe and AstraZeneca over a contract has segued into an unexpected blunder that left many of us chuckling and surprised at the same time. Perhaps even feeling a bit awkward. Recently, the European Commission published a PDF version of the contract it had with AstraZeneca...

Fonix ransomware gives up life of crime, apologizes

Ransomware gangs deciding to pack their bags and leave their life of crime is not new, but it is a rare thing to see indeed. And the Fonix ransomware also known as FonixCrypter and Xinof, one of those ransomware-as-a-service RaaS offerings, is the latest to join the club. End of FonixCrypter...

A week in security (December 7 – December 13)

Last week on Malwarebytes podcast we talked to Doug Levin, founder of the K12 cybersecurity resource center and advisor to the K12 Security Information Exchange, about how schools can plan for a cybersecure 2021. We also released a Malwarebytes Labs report revealing that 50 percent of schools did...

Brute force attacks increase due to more open RDP ports

While leaving your back door open while you are working from home may be something you do without giving it a second thought, having unnecessary ports open on your computer is a security risk that is sometimes underestimated. Thats because an open port can be subject to brute force attacks. What...

Malwarebytes Labs releases 2020 State of Malware Report

Today is Safer Internet Day—and what better way to celebrate/pay homage than to immerse yourself in research on the latest in malware, exploits, PUPs, web threats, and data privacy? It so happens we've got just the right content to kick-start the party because today we released the results of our...

A week in security (January 20 – 26)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we reported on a Ryuk ransomware attack on The Tampa Bay Times, a newspaper in Florida; unmasked an elaborate browser locking scheme behind the more advanced tech support operations that are currently active; and looked at the latest laws on regulating deepfakes...

Deepfakes laws and proposals flood US

In a rare example of legislative haste, roughly one dozen state and federal bills were introduced in the past 12 months to regulate deepfakes, the relatively modern technology that some fear could upend democracy. Though the federal proposals have yet to move forward, the state bills have found...

New Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) veterans program aims to bridge skills gap, diversify sector

The cybersecurity industry has a problem: We have zero unemployment rate. Or so we're told. With experts predicting millions of job openings in the years to come—coupled with the industry’s projected growth of US$289.9 billion by 2026 and soaring cyberattacks against businesses—now is as good a...

Deepfakes and LinkedIn: malign interference campaigns

Deepfakes haven't quite lost the power to surprise, but given their wholesale media saturation in the last year or so, there’s a sneaking suspicion in some quarters that they may have missed the bus. When people throw a fake Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn online these days, the response seems to ...

Capital One breach exposes over 100 million credit card applications

Just as we were wrapping up the aftermath of the Equifax breach—how was that already two years ago?—we are confronted with yet another breach of about the same order of magnitude. Capital One was affected by a data breach in March. The hacker gained access to information related to credit card...

How to protect your data from Magecart and other e-commerce attacks

In today's golden age of online shopping, consumers take to the Internet, punch in a few credit card details, and happily receive products at their doorstep, safe in the knowledge that their online vendor is well-known, vetted, and therefore their website has to be secure, right? Dut did you know...

UK law enforcement: an uphill struggle to fight hackers

About 16 years ago in the UK, I walked into a local police station to report a computer crime, because walking into local police stations is how they did things back then. There may well also have been penny farthing bicycles, real pea souper fogs, Mary Poppins, and Jack the Ripper, though I coul...

Engaging students in cybersecurity: a primer for educators

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Maimonides The education sector has had its share of breaches. And schools, like medical and retail institutions, continue to struggle when it comes to securing their highly-priced assets: student a...

Mobile Menace Monday: despicable adware

Are you wondering how that mysterious icon ended up on your Android phone's start screen? Annoyed at the ads clogging your notification bar? You aren't alone. Thousands of Android apps now include software that shoves marketing icons onto your phone's start screen or pushes advertising into your...

88% of people struggle to tell what’s real online

What would you trade for a technology that can do almost anything? For many people, the answer is clear: Everything they thought they could trust. In a few, short years, Artificial Intelligence AI tools have granted people unfettered access to easier writing, faster image generation, quicker...

A week in security (May 25 – May 31)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Payment apps are watching what you say Lock and Code S07E11 Scammers pretending to be Microsoft had help from US executives 700+ education and tech websites hijacked in huge ClickFix malware campaign Fake software on GitHub and SourceForge distribute Deno RAT Fake...

Payment apps are watching what you say (Lock and Code S07E11)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast … In the United States today, you can have your bank account closed, your credit cards cancelled, and your online payments revoked for any number of crimes, like funding terrorism, engaging in money laundering, or violating sanctions. Sensible, right? Well,...

Patch now: Mozilla patches two critical vulnerabilities in Firefox

Mozilla released version 124.0.1 of the Firefox browser to Release channel users the default channel that most non-developers run on March 22, 2024. The new version fixes two critical security vulnerabilities. One of the vulnerabilities affects Firefox on desktop only, and doesnt affect mobile...

Ransomware review: March 2024

This article is based on research by Marcelo Rivero, Malwarebytes ransomware specialist, who monitors information published by ransomware gangs on their Dark Web sites. In this report, "known attacks" are those where the victim did not pay a ransom. This provides the best overall picture of...

Massive utility scam campaign spreads via online ads

For many households, energy costs represent a significant part of their overall budget. And when customers want to discuss their bills or look for ways to save money, scammers are just a phone call away. Enter the utility scam, where crooks pretend to be your utility company so they can threaten...

Hewlett Packard Enterprise also searched by Cozy Bear

Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE has disclosed that the state-sponsored actor known as Cozy Bear aka Midnight Blizzard, gained unauthorized access to HPE’s cloud-based email environment. This news comes only days after Microsoft broke very similar news that it got hacked by this same state sponsore...

3 benefits of ThreatDown bundles

Traditional approaches to endpoint security today have a three-fold complexity problem—with big consequences. First, complexity in deployment causes long delays in protection, directly impacting ROI and leaving organizations vulnerable to breaches. In fact, almost 10 percent of small security tea...

What Gen Z really cares about when it comes to privacy

It would be easy to think that Gen Z doesn’t care about privacy. They worry less about ad tracking, do little to stem the flow of their private information online, and, as Malwarebytes recently uncovered, monitor one another’s lives far more than other generations. But it isn’t that Gen Z,...

FAQ: How does Malwarebytes ransomware rollback work?

As the old cybersecurity saying goes: "Its not if, but when." Everyone and their grandma have repeated this foreboding maxim about the nature of ransomware attacks, but sadly, that doesn't make it any less true. Time and again were reminded that ransomware can slip past even the best defenses...

A week in security (June 12 - 18)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: MOVEit discloses THIRD critical vulnerability Fake security researchers push malware files on GitHub LockBit ransomware advisory from CISA provides interesting insights Microsoft fixes six critical vulnerabilities in June Patch Tuesday Update Chrome now! Google fix...

Fake Flipper Zero sellers are after your money

Thanks to Malwarebytes' Stefan Dasic who provided the research and screenshots for this article. Flipper Zero, a "multi-tool device for hackers", is frequently out of stock due to its popularity in hardware circles. Flipper Zero combines research and penetration hardware tools into a single unit...

Apple's AirTag stalker safeguards are "woefully inadequate," alleges lawsuit

Two women filed a proposed class-action lawsuit on Monday, December 5, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Apple, the makers of AirTags. Airtags are a small Bluetooth-enabled devices designed to track personal belongings. The suit accuses the compan...

Tech support scammers caught by their own cameras

A Youtuber has hacked into the CCTV cameras of an office used by tech support scammers and reported them to the police. The video feed of what is going on in that office ends with the arrest of the scammers. CCTV The Youtuber, acting under the handle Scambaiter, turned his attention to Punjab in...

BlackBasta is the latest ransomware to target ESXi virtual machines on Linux

BlackBasta, an alleged subdivision of the ransomware group Conti, just began supporting the encryption of VMwares ESXi virtual machines VM installed on enterprise Linux servers. Because more and more organizations have begun using VMs for cost-effectiveness and easier management of devices, this...

Online Safety Bill will legally require porn sites to verify users’ age

When Ioannis Dekas, a father of four boys, found that one of his sons had access to pornography, he and his wife became concerned. "In two weeks leading up to this moment, wed noticed a drastic change in his behavior," Dekas said in a BBC interview, "Withdrawal, a sense of anger towards his...

[updated]REvil ransomware disappears after Tor services hijacked

With some pests you hope they never recover from a blow. It’s almost too good to be true, but one can hope. This is one of them. The REvil ransomware group has shut down their operation for the second time this year after losing control over their Tor-based domains. Shutdown number 1 REvils first...

Macs turn on apps signed by Symantec, treat them as malware

On August 23, following an update to Apples security systems on macOS, some Mac users began to see security alerts about some of their apps, claiming that they "will damage your computer," and offering users the option to "report malware to Apple." This has led to much confusion online, and to an...

Racing against a real-life ransomware attack, with Ski Kacoroski: Lock and Code S02E12

At 11:37 pm on the night of September 20, 2019, cybercriminals launched a ransomware attack against Northshore School District in Washington state. Early the next morning, Northshore systems administrator Ski Kacoroski arrived on scene. As Kacoroski soon found out, he and his team were on a race...

How to deactivate or delete your Facebook account

People worldwide use Facebook to connect with friends and family, and to engage in pointless debates with strangers over moderately amusing cat videos. But while some feel that the social media platform is an essential part of life, others find the data scandals and privacy issues disconcerting...

Egregor ransomware hit by arrests

In a collaboration between French and Ukranian law enforcement, arrests have been made that might put a dent in one of the worlds most sophisticated ransomware operations. As reported first by France Inter, law enforcement made the arrests after French authorities traced ransom payments to...

Android emulator abused to introduce malware onto PCs

Emulators have played a part in many tech-savvy users’ lives. They introduce a level of flexibility that not only allows another system to run on top of a user’s operating system—a Windows OS running on a MacBook laptop, for example—but also allows video gamers to play games designed to work on a...

VPN usage is increasing, says December 2020 survey

I won’t reveal my mom’s exact age, but she’s in her late 60s. Other than her phone, my mom doesn’t own or use a computer—but she knows what Zoom is. Not since “Kleenex” has a brand become so pervasive that people use the brand name as a generic term for the product. For my mom, any kind of video...

Emotet returns just in time for Christmas

Emotet is a threat we have been tracking very closely throughout the year thanks to its large email distribution campaigns. Once again, and for about two months, the botnet stopped its malspam activity only to return days before Christmas. In typical Emotet fashion, the threat actors continue to...

Buying COVID-19 vaccines from the Dark Web? No thanks!

Even though we hope that this is an unnecessary warning, we do want to put it out there. As soon as there was talk about a vaccine being available against the COVID-19 virus there were vendors on the Dark Web offering Russian and Chinese COVID-19 vaccines for sale. Now that the UK has started its...

German users targeted with Gootkit banker or REvil ransomware

This blog post was authored by Hasherezade and Jérôme Segura On November 23, we received an alert from a partner about a resurgence of Gootkit infections in Germany. Gootkit is a very capable banking Trojan that has been around since 2014 and possesses a number of functionalities such as keystrok...

Vastaamo psychotherapy data breach sees the most vulnerable victims extorted

“Hell is too nice a place for these people.” Never have we seen outrage about a cybercrime at such a level. The outrage is aimed at cybercriminals behind the data breach that occurred at Finnish psychotherapy practice Vastaamo. Vastaamo, which has treated some 40,000 patients, is a subcontractor ...

XSS to TSS: tech support scam campaign abuses cross-site scripting vulnerability

Tech support browser lockers continue to be one of the most common web threats. Not only are they a problem for end users who might end up on the phone with scammers defrauding them of hundreds of dollars, theyve also caused quite the headache for browser vendors to fix. Browser lockers are only...

RevenueWire to pay $6.7 million to settle FTC charges

What can you do as a scammer when no legitimate payment provider wants to process your payments anymore? Or, what if you are growing sick and tired of these same payment providers reimbursing disgruntled customers who claim that your products didn't fix computers, like—you know—you said they woul...

Introducing Lock and Code: a Malwarebytes Labs podcast

Intrepid Labs readers might be happy to know that we're stepping into territory long-requested and desired: we're launching a podcast. Malwarebytes researchers and reporters are on the front lines of cybercrime, delivering both fast-breaking news and thoughtful features on our blog to raise...

Battling online coronavirus scams with facts

Panic and confusion about the recent coronavirus outbreak spurred threat actors to launch several malware campaigns across the world, relying on a tried-and-true method to infect people’s machines: fear. Cybercriminals targeted users in Japan with an Emotet campaign that included malicious Word...

A week in security (January 27 – February 2)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we looked at the strengths and weaknesses of the Zero Trust model, gave you the low-down on spear phishing, and took a delve into the world of securing the managed service provider MSP. Other cybersecurity news UN compromised via Sharepoint hack: An extraordinary...

IoT bills and guidelines: a global response

You may not have noticed, but Internet of Things IoT rules and regulations are coming whether manufacturers want them or not. From experience, drafting up laws which are hopefully sensible and have some relevance to problems raised by current technology is a time-consuming, frustrating process...